Advice on newly adopted blue and gold?

[GaleriaGila]

I have nothing to add, but... I'm following this thread and cheering!

 

[BeatriceC]

Word of advise on the travel cage: Back him in. If I try to put Charlotte in her cage beak first, it's traumatic and stressful for all of us. If I put her in tail feathers first, she goes in quietly and without a fuss. One of the vet techs at my avian vet taught me that. It's never a problem with the other birds, but she fought it tooth and nail.

My birds also behave better if we travel during daylight and I play music during the car ride.

 

[PasselOfKids]

We just adopted/rescued Max, if you look down a couple posts, off a lanai here in South FL. Your Gus is very beautiful seems like all 3 of you are very lucky to have found the perfect match. He seems very sweet.

 

[Kentuckienne]

I think I am allergic to Gus. After a long head-scratching session my nose is stuffed up and I want to sneeze. I'm afraid this can only mean one thing: Claritan. Does anyone know if they have allergy shots for parrot dander?

 

[Scottj]

Sure sounds like Gus has found a wonderful home and you a great friend. Sorry about the dander, no advice there. As someone expert in caring for someone with special needs, granted not a bird but none the less, there are many, many upsides to the downs and the rewards can last a lifetime.

Scottj

 

[Kentuckienne]

Does Gus like the wooden chew toy J made? No. does Gus like the expensive confetti toy from the store? He does not. Does Gus like a wad of scrap paper in a spike? Yes. Shredding in progress.

 

[Teddscau]

Geh, that is one sexy macaw! He's freaking adorable! As for issues with dander, try an air purifier and give him lots of baths. As for allergy shots, if you can get a dog allergy shots for grass, flies, mosquitoes, flounder, cedar, and other stupid things, then I'm sure they'd have suitable shots for humans.

I've always said I'd never get a larger parrot (except for an ekkie), but if I met a guy like Gus at a rescue, I don't think I could resist.

 

[SilleIN]

I think I am allergic to Gus. After a long head-scratching session my nose is stuffed up and I want to sneeze. I'm afraid this can only mean one thing: Claritan. Does anyone know if they have allergy shots for parrot dander?

I have one of those indoor fountains in my living room. It has two functions, one is to heighten the humidity in the air (I live in Denmark (Scandinavia) and the climate is FAR from the South American jungle) and it captures a lot of dust particles in the air too.

And as Teddscau said, bathe Gus regularly. A macaw can easily be bathed every other day and that should lower the allergens coming of Gus.

PTSD is good. Gus is absolutely sweet. At some point, he may have been "housebroken" because when he needs to poop, he gets agitated and if we put him back on the play stand he poops there. If he's on his cage, he moves over to the side to hang his little butt off the edge. Or maybe from living in a filthy cage, he wants to get away from his poop? So far we've tried to make every day better - he doesn't have to go in the cage because someone is here, we have time to preen and preen and preen - but he does need to go back to the vet, and he will have to spend time in the cage. If he can remember training from ten years ago, maybe stressful things could make him remember the solitary years. Do you have any suggestions for minimizing that? Should I cover his travel crate, have a special food treat ready for when we get home with him?

My B&G does not do well with cages, so I put a harness on him (I have "invented" a harness, that does not have to be put over his head as the Aviator, neither do you have to put his wings through a hole) and I have removed the headrest on the passenger side, put a towel over the seat and that's Sugars spot when driving. He loves looking at the scenery passing by, so he gets all exited when he knows we are going driving

 

[Kentuckienne]

I have one of those indoor fountains in my living room. It has two functions, one is to heighten the humidity in the air (I live in Denmark (Scandinavia) and the climate is FAR from the South American jungle) and it captures a lot of dust particles in the air too.

And as Teddscau said, bathe Gus regularly. A macaw can easily be bathed every other day and that should lower the allergens coming of Gus.

.................

My B&G does not do well with cages, so I put a harness on him (I have "invented" a harness, that does not have to be put over his head as the Aviator, neither do you have to put his wings through a hole) and I have removed the headrest on the passenger side, put a towel over the seat and that's Sugars spot when driving. He loves looking at the scenery passing by, so he gets all exited when he knows we are going driving

A fountain is a great idea. Although we live on the edge of a forest, the house is so well insulated from noise that we don't hear the outside sounds of birds and wind. The sound of water might be a welcome change for all of us. I worry a bit about mold and mildew. Our last parrot had a pseudomonas infection that resisted all efforts to cure, and the vet said it was a waterborne pathogen. We switched to bottled water for him and disinfected his humidifier every couple of days, so it will have to be a fountain that I feel confident about cleaning.

Can you post a photo of the harness you made? I don't know if Gus would tolerate one, but it would be nice to have him out of the cage for travel, or restrained for outside walks. Our Amazon used to ride on my husband's shoulder for multi-day car trips, and I used to worry about his getting flung off during a sudden stop. Hubs feels confident taking him outside on the shoulder, but it makes me nervous. We have Hawks, turkey vultures, bald eagles and other scary things in the sky and if he tried to fly he might escape and he might get hurt by crashing to the ground. His wings were trimmed in rescue, but he may not be able to fly due to the skeletal damages / kyphosis. Even if the wings grow out, he might hurt himself if he launches.

 

[Kentuckienne]

UPDATE - I've been sitting here working on a computer problem and priding myself on making a trash paper toy that Gus loves. Until I hear coughing. He's not just ripping up the paper - he's trying to eat little bits of it, rolled up into balls. I took it away. Man, that was the only thing he's shown any interest in - ripping up paper. But it's obviously not safe for him.

 

[Flboy]

Give him a phone book!

 

[Kentuckienne]

He's fully distracted by his new real estate. The bars are much larger and easier on his feet. He's a little bit agitated but not freaking out. His person is spoiling him rotten!

 

[SilleIN]

A fountain is a great idea. Although we live on the edge of a forest, the house is so well insulated from noise that we don't hear the outside sounds of birds and wind. The sound of water might be a welcome change for all of us. I worry a bit about mold and mildew. Our last parrot had a pseudomonas infection that resisted all efforts to cure, and the vet said it was a waterborne pathogen. We switched to bottled water for him and disinfected his humidifier every couple of days, so it will have to be a fountain that I feel confident about cleaning.

Can you post a photo of the harness you made? I don't know if Gus would tolerate one, but it would be nice to have him out of the cage for travel, or restrained for outside walks. Our Amazon used to ride on my husband's shoulder for multi-day car trips, and I used to worry about his getting flung off during a sudden stop. Hubs feels confident taking him outside on the shoulder, but it makes me nervous. We have Hawks, turkey vultures, bald eagles and other scary things in the sky and if he tried to fly he might escape and he might get hurt by crashing to the ground. His wings were trimmed in rescue, but he may not be able to fly due to the skeletal damages / kyphosis. Even if the wings grow out, he might hurt himself if he launches.

The fountain is a pretty simple one. There's a pump under the fancy bit and everything can be put in the sink and rinced. I do that once or twice a month, as it does accumulate some dust in the water, so I know it picks up particles from the air. I bought mine for about $30 on aliexpress(website for cheap stuff from China).

Sugar has gone to bed, so don't want to take photos of him now, but will take a photo of him tomorrow evening. We don't have any large birds of prey in Denmark (largest is about the size of a B&G and are very rare), but if they get really scared, they will be able to fly off. I train Sugar in flight in an indoor riding arena (my own), so he can fly free with no harness. I have him wear a harness, when he's out shopping with me or other things. I know he would not fly off on purpose, but if he go really scared, I would not guarantee he would not let his instincts get the better of him.

We are a few parrot owners, who are trying to design a harness, that does not have to be put over their heads and where you don't have to put their wings through a hole and with a larger weight carrying area on the back, so if they try to fly off, they won't get at snap at one point on their spine(whiplash). So at this point this is still the preliminary harness, but quite close to the finished harness. The one you will see, doesn't have the fastened leash with an elastic, that will be on the finished product and it is missing an extra fastening on one side, but the basic harness is there.

 

[Kentuckienne]

This morning Gus has been extra clingy. It's the first rainy day since he's been with us. He wants lots of head scratches and it's hard for me to resist, because I always wanted to pet Oliver and that was not going to happen. Me so happy.

 

[SilleIN]

Sorry I promised a photo of the harness, but had an unwelcome visitor in my chicken pen so had to run back and forth to try and safe the remaining chicken before the mink got the rest of them. My chicken pen is fox secure, but had never thought of a bred mink escaped from a farm, would be my biggest concern. The worst thing is, that it's quite tame, I got to pet it on the head in it's burrowed hole. I hope he goes in the trap (one that does not harm or kill), so I don't have to have one of my parrot cages in the living room full of chickens and ducks :O

I might have time to put a harness on Sugar tomorrow, all depends on the mink...

 

[Kentuckienne]

Mink are terrible, they will kill every bird in the pen. Glad you were able to stop him...

 

[SilleIN]

Mink are terrible, they will kill every bird in the pen. Glad you were able to stop him...

Unfortunately only after he had finished 5 chickens off and have had to clean wounds on all but one bird

SO glad my dog alarmed me, that something was wrong in the chicken pen otherwise all of them would have been killed off.

 

[Kentuckienne]

Oh no, that's awful. Where we live it's the same, have to think about owls, weasels, foxes, coyotes, Hawks, eagles, coons, dog packs.... I haven't seen minks here but I read they are ruthless. It's one reason I would hesitate to have an outdoor aviary. Well, also here we have ticks, skeeters that carry West Nile virus ... Chickens are so sweet. I used to have a pet chicken as a child and something got her one night. I cried all day. I'm sorry about yours, and I'm glad you were able to save some of them. Give your dog a big hug for me.

 

[Kentuckienne]

....
I believe the rescued macaws are intelligent enough to know, that we rescued them and are much more appreciative than the macaws, who have never experienced hardship.
...
The only thing I will say to be aware of, is you will have to treat your Gus as a bird with PTSD. That has been my way of dealing with Sugar and that has made his behavior in the beginning easier to understand. He can still have a few relapses, for instance when he has been to the vet, then things can be dangerous for a day or two, but other than that, he is the most loving bird.

I think I saw this yesterday .. Gus was very clingy, maybe because it was a rainy day? In the early evening he was a bit nervous, wouldn't get off my shoulder, then wanted to be taken around the house from room to room - maybe he was looking for the Parrotman, who had gone out - and I had a longish phone call. Gus wanted to go back on his cage, then started calling loudly for me to come get him. I was nervous about having him on my shoulder when he was so agitated, so I went into another room to finish the phone call then went back to get him. He had gone quiet, and wouldn't let me pick him up, just gave me a strange look. It wasn't the typical hairy eyeball I used to get from the 'zon...there seemed to be fear and resentment and mistrust in it, like "you betrayed me". Ok, I'm reading a lot into an expression in a bird's eye .. Then I remembered this PTSD comment. I thought about all the years he spent locked in a cage in a back room, and how many tens of thousands of times he must have called and gotten no response or seen the person leave the room and I felt so guilty. Did I trigger a memory, take him back to that helpless and lonely time? He's just been so happy that I didn't see the fragility.

We have gone out for a few hours at a time, and he seems ok when we get back. Some day he will need to go to a sitter, or maybe even be by himself overnight, and I don't want it to be stressful for him. I hate for anything to trigger bad memories. Any ideas for a plan? Give him lots of love, put him in cage for few minutes, go away then come back, gradually stretching out the time? What about giving him a period of absolute smothering with affection until he needs his own space? Works with boyfriends...I kid! I kid! JK! I know we will get through this, but it would be wonderful to minimize the stress and anxiety and move him quickly into a good mental place. If we can use OPE (other people's experience) to shorten the adjustment period it would be great.

 

[wrench13]

Hi. Absolutely great job you are doing with Gus, and putting so much love and thought into where his head is at.

With Salty, my 'zon, If I am going to be gone for a weekend, I explain to him a few times that I will be not here for 2 TWO days, but dont worry because I will be back.
Same thing if I will not be home one evening, but I will see you tomorrow. Same thing if I leave the dinner table with my sons, to go downstairs into the studio to rehears or record.. I give him a time reference, and assure him I will be back.

Doing this almost always keeps the contact calls down to none. I am Salty's person, but he likes my wife also, and she is disabled and at home almost 24/7, so she knows if this time reference and assurance is successful or not.

So try this with Gus, if you must leave him for awhile. Say how long you will be gone, assure him you will be back , and do this a few times before you actually leave.What do you have to loose? Sound like a crazy person, talking about time to a bird? But then again, aren't we all crazy, taking a BIRD into our home and expecting it to understand us?

Go GUS !!